As the Pendulum Swings: Let the Deacons Do It

History has always been a series of pendulum swings, but the individual doesn’t have to get caught in that. –Robert Johnson

A pendulum, if you remember, is a weight that gets displaced on one side. Due to the force of gravity the weight will swing from one side to the other—losing a bit of force each time, before finally resting in the middle in what is called the equilibrium position.

History nerds, like myself, note how history seems to follow this same pattern. We go from overreaction to overreaction and finally settle somewhere in the middle. It’s a fitting analogy, but isn’t without holes when considering the Scriptures. The “middle” position may not always be the biblical one. For believers in Jesus our concern is that something is true—not whether or not something is comfortable resting as a middle position.

Nonetheless, as finite and sinful human beings we are prone to bounce around the truth rather than actually resting in it. There is truth to the pendulum. Specifically there are a few areas where I believe the church is now swinging too far in the other direction. And I want to discuss that.

I’ve got a handful of pendulum swings that I’d like to address, starting with one that I’ve termed the Let the Deacons Do It.

Why the Pendulum Swung

This pastor had been at the church for about thirty years. When he resigned the church was heart broken, but also a bit excited to get someone fresh in the pulpit. It seemed like the pastor had been recycling sermons for quite some time now.

The first couple of Sunday’s without him went by without much trouble…then the trash started to stink. And the toilets wouldn’t flush quite right. And the a few lights stayed burnt out. And they didn’t have any bulletins. The heat wasn’t turned on for Sunday morning. Nobody knew where the offering plates were. They didn’t have any juice or bread for the Lord’s Supper. On and on it went. Each Sunday they noticed a new gaping hole.

This church finally realized that the senior pastor did much more than just preach on Sunday. He also served as custodian, groundskeeper, secretary, and a host of other positions. When he left they lost all these positions. No wonder he was recycling those sermons—he was recycling all the churches cardboard too. He was too busy doing all sorts of non-pastoral things to put his time and effort into preparing sermons.

About 30-40 years ago churches started to wake up to the deficiency in biblical preaching. In the past 40 years we’ve seen an influx of books on the importance of a pastor’s preaching ministry. Most of us young pastor’s have had it drilled in us that our primary task is to accurately handle God’s Word. We should leave the “waiting of tables” for the deacons (See Acts 6).

I rejoice in this trend. But I also think maybe we’re beginning to travel too far the other way.

The Overswing

What I’m seeing now are young guys, like myself, who are thinking that the pastoral ministry is simply spending 30 hours in sermon preparation, delivering that sermon (maybe a few times), meeting with a few key leaders and setting vision, and then doing it all over next week.

Hospital visits? That’s for the deacons.

Weddings? Funerals? Let the pastoral intern get some practice.

Waiting tables? That’s for the hospitality team.

Visiting the congregation? Didn’t we develop a deacon program to solve that issue?

For some mega-churches they’ll have a preaching pastor and his chief responsibility is to preach. The other pastors do the other ministry stuff. But let’s be honest, most of us will never serve in a church like that, and if I’m being honest I’m not sure I really want to.

See, I’m convinced that the apostles didn’t commission deacons in Acts 6 so they could then be freed up to go lock themselves into a room. Sermon prep that doesn’t occasionally include a hospital bed will likely breed pretty stale sermons. The ministry of the Word that the apostles fought so hard to preserve isn’t confined to a Sunday morning event.

Conclusion

So, yes, I’m glad that we are placing a grand importance on the sermon and allowing the pastor adequate study time. (I still agree with most of what I wrote here). But let’s not become professional sermon makers and pretend like somehow we’ve fulfilled our gospel ministry.

Sometimes your ministry of the Word might include taking out the trash.

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About Mike Leake

Mike Leake is the lead pastor at FBC Marionville, MO. He is married to Nikki, and is the father to Isaiah and Hannah. Mike is currently pursuing an M.Div at SBTS...and by "currently pursuing" he means hoping Jesus returns before he has to take that final Hebrew class. Mike is the author of Torn to Heal and Jesus is All You Need.WebsiteTwitter

Is this a massless, frictionless string the pendulum is connected to?–have to know for my calculations. Sorry, science nerd.

Seriously:

The swings are probably b/c balance is hard to achieve… What to say no to and what not. And, of course for some pastors and churches where the church is not used to a pastor saying no, then even if he still does a good amount it’ll be a difficult transition while they’re getting used to hearing ‘no’ to certain things.

Ironically, though, it seems a lot of these big churches that have a pastor focused on preaching don’t have him also doing a Sunday night, Wednesday night, possibly a Sunday school, etc., which they expect him to do.

At one point I found myself involved in ten different studies at my church. Half I directly led, there other half some people expected me to defacto lead if I showed up, b/c in the pastor.

I had a choice: Lots of study that left little time for other things; way too much stuff that left little time for life and sanity; or adjust and seek a balance. Tried for the third. It’s better but still difficult at times.

August 13, 2015 8:08 am

Bill Mac

At our church the elders are not responsible for any administrative or physical property issues, they are all handled by deacons. Our elders are not permitted to moderate business meetings either. They are responsible for sermons, and for visitation, baptism, LS, new member classes, etc.

This is one of the reasons that we operate so well when a pastor eventually leaves, we haven’t loaded him up with a bunch of necessary stuff that only he was doing, and other than finding someone to preach (which our other elders do), we tick along as normal.

But aren’t pastors/elders Biblically instructed to “administrate” the church”?

Guess I would need a definition of administration.

Where in scripture are deacons instructed or given authority to do those things?

Are we sure that Acts 6 is talking about the office of deacon, or was it a description (not prescription) of an event that took place in Acts?

I am not sure a church should “tick along as normal” when an elder leaves? Should he be so meaningless that no one really notices he is gone? I am not saying elders should be doing all that is mentioned in the OP – but I am wondering if it is healthy or biblical for them to be insignificant, outside of preaching, either?

Not to answer for Bill, but I think Acts 6 is the precedent for the difference between elders and deacons. If the purpose of deacons were to free up the Apostles (the elders in Jerusalem at the time) for spiritual leadership, then not only would they to take on the physical ministry of feeding the widows, but they would also take on the task of caring for the administrative needs of the physical plant and organizational minutia.

Ideally, you would also have multiple elders, even if only only one were the pastor. That way the pastor would have spiritual oversight and the spiritual leadership of the church would not rest on just one man. Anything happens to that one man and the church is in danger. But if something happens to an elder where there are other elders, then the ministry is able to tick along. I would also say that no pastor should ever be more important than his ministry. The church belongs to Christ, not the pastor. The pastor is greater than his ministry when the church would decline if something happens to the pastor. That should never happen. How many churches do you know drop in attendance when the pastor takes vacation, or suffer a significant drop in attendance if the pastor is caught in sin? That should never happen. Never. That’s a system that values the pastor beyond his ministry.

What I usually see between deacons and elders today is a board of deacons who hire a pastor to run the church so that they are freed up to run their businesses. Then they get upset when he doesn’t run the church the way they want him to. Something is wrong with that picture.

August 14, 2015 11:07 am

Tarheel

Agreed, Jim. I do not think a pastor/elder should be larger than the ministry and the ministry completely dependent on him – but I do not think he should be so irrelevant that the church ticks on as normal without him.

Guess Miller is right – boy that hurts to type – Biblical balance is the key.

August 14, 2015 11:14 am

Tarheel

I should say them (elders) – as plurality of elders is the biblical model.

I guess I’m thinking of my church here. Our senior pastor is retiring at the end of the month. We are all going to miss him tremendously. However, I never noticed a decline in attendance when he was away. There are a half-dozen people in my church who could fill the pulpit just as well, and we all look forward to hearing them when they’ve had the opportunity to preach. We have as many pastors, and there is always someone available for pastoral counsel or visitation. Additionally, we have a significant number of church members who will step in and minister in any given situation. We’re going to miss not having Skip around, but he’s well equipped the saints at our church to go on without him. Rather than being dependent on him, we are dependent on Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.

August 14, 2015 11:30 am

Tarheel

Amen, that’s awesome. I think we are on the same page here, Jim.

August 14, 2015 11:40 am

Bill Mac

Jim has answered pretty much the way I would have. We love our pastor and would be sorry to see him leave, but if he did, we would tick along. We have 3 or 4 men who are ready and able to preach, and the visitation would be done by anyone able to. Although visitation is an elder-thing, it is more properly a Christian-thing. If attendance drops when a pastor leaves, that is the sign of an unhealthy church. If people follow a pastor out of the church, that is extremely unhealthy.

We view deacons in a very minimalist, servant role (both men and women). Although we do elect deacons, essentially anyone who serves the church is a deacon. It is not a role of prestige or authority.

August 14, 2015 1:32 pm

Tim B

Thanks for the article. Your express the same sentiments that I have been teaching pastors. The ministries of the Word and Prayer were daily, in the temple, and house to house. They were for the sick, the lost and the believer. It is foreign concept to the book of acts that a minister would hide out in his study for hours on end to prepare a thirty or forty five minute well worded, clever lecture available only to those who could attend at the hour offered. The greatest mistake of the church in our generation is that we offer the ministry of the Word only to those who can/will come to a prescribed place and time that is convenient to us. Let’s stop giving the deacons pastoral duties and let the pastors pastor and the deacons serve. Much more could be said but we desperately need some corrective work in this area.

Balance is the key word, of course. When I was in seminary (back in the medieval days), some of my profs actually demeaned the importance of preaching – one called it outdated and ineffective in this modern world (pre-CR). Pastors were organizers, motivators, business managers, CEOs, strategizers, etc.

Then, the pendulum started to swing, as Mike mentioned, and I was so glad it did. The renewed emphasis on expository preaching, on the importance of the Word – all those things – was welcome in my heart and mind.

But I have noticed among some younger pastors the idea that pastoring is sequestering oneself in the study all week and then delivering an exegetical masterpiece on Sunday. Visitation and many other such duties are tasked to others.

We must never neglect the ministry of the Word and prayer, but the pastor who ONLY focuses on exegesis is not going to move the needle much as a pastor.

We have to figure music in the mix also. I have seen a troubling tendency to consider music time as “worship” and preaching time as something else. It almost seems like music is something to be enjoyed and preaching something to be endured.

August 14, 2015 8:05 am

TRB

As many others have stated, balance is the key. Personally, I expect the pastor and his leadership team (whether called board members, elders, deacons, or whatever) to provide preaching, teaching, and shepherding.

In my opinion, a pastor who devotes himself exclusively to preaching is basically just a motivational speaker and is not a shepherd.

One of the best years of my 25+ year ministry career (none of it as a senior pastor, mostly administrative) was the year immediately after a church split and the departure of the senior pastor and maybe 30% of the congregation. We did not have a senior pastor for the next 12 months, and the elders and I were blessed to see God not remove his hand of blessing as everyone stepped up to do what needed to be done with the Word faithfully proclaimed each week as the congregation healed. Made us truly dependent on the Lord each and every week, and we were amazed and rejoiced at His love and faithfulness.